Meet us where artists connect
At the Oak Park Art League, artists of all skill sets - from beginner to professional - are welcomed. This is Oak Park’s center for artistic expression and the place where artists are encouraged to find and refine their creative voices.
Public arts programming and exhibitions are designed to engage and support local artists at the Oak Park Art League, which is one of the state’s oldest non-profit arts organizations.
It all began back in 1919 when local artist Carl Krafft invited Chicago-area artists to meet in his Oak Park home.
The Art League quickly outgrew Kafft’s home and, in 1937, it purchased the carriage house and stable of the Victorian home that still sits regally to the west. The carriage house was designed in 1902 by Eben Ezra Roberts, an Art League member and Oak Park architect who was a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright. This is evident from the similarities that the carriage house shares with Wright’s first home which sits just two blocks to the west.
It’s a fitting home for the Oak Park Art League where Ernest Hemingway’s mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was a member and fundraiser (she contributed to the fundraiser held to purchase the carriage home). The structure invites a dialogue about the early 20th-century art, architecture, and literature that continues to define Oak Park today.
The Oak Park Art League gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 1pm to 5pm and Saturday from 1pm to 4pm. Closed Sunday and Monday.
There is a new exhibit about once a month with an opening reception that brings artists together from around the area. Check the Art League’s website for information on upcoming exhibitions.
There is no charge to visit the Oak Park Art League gallery or the rotating exhibitions.
Annual memberships are available and range from $30 for a student to $100 for an artist.
Local artists are your guides at the Oak Park Art League. Executive Director Brad Nugent has an art studio in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago and Gallery Manager Jeffrey Jenkins creates pop-up exhibits in Oak Park and Chicago.
A landmark in its own right, the Oak Park Art League is located in the middle of Oak Park’s Historic District and within walking distance of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home and Studio and the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway. The address for the Art League is 720 Chicago Avenue. It’s just a half-mile walk from the Oak Park Stop on the CTA Green Line.
